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Eni recently opened a new administration building in Hammerfest."Goliath gave us a 15-year production perspective, but recent events mean we can now double it,” Andreas Wulff, Eni Norge’s director of external communications and public relations.

FOTO: OLE MAGNUS RAPP

Italians back the Barents

Oil company Eni is hoping to discover even more hydrocarbon resources in the Barents Sea following Statoil’s Skrugard/Havis discoveries.

“Goliath gave us a 15-year production perspective, but recent events mean we can now double it,” Andreas Wulff, Eni Norge’s director of external communications and public relations, tells Aftenbladet.

Eni owns a 30 percent stake in the PL 532 license. The company also has Q2 and Q3 plans to drill two further wells under the Salina and Bønna prospects – the PL 529 and 533 license areas, respectively – in the Barents.

22 production wells

Moreover, the Saipem-owned Scarabeo 8 rig will drill 22 production wells for the Goliath project under contract this autumn

Talking of Eni’s new administration building in Hammerfest, Mr Wulff continues, “The oil industry has arrived in the north in earnest. Several major oil companies were waiting before establishing themselves, but now they are coming. Northern Norway has become an oil province.”

Significant increase

60 staff will be transferred from Stavanger up north, with plans for another 60 following expansion. 11 of Eni’s 50 Norway-based production licenses are in the Barents Sea.

Does this mean that Eni will be moving its focus northwards?

“No. The company has been in Norway since 1965 and is still at Ekofisk. Eni has significant production and activity in the North and Norwegian Seas, and expanded employee numbers in Stavanger by 300. Some of them will travel up north when the platform becomes operative, but there has still been a significant increase in personnel down here,” concludes Mr Wulff.